Asia Pacific|In Taiwan, U.S. Official Says Commitment ‘Has Never Been Stronger’

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In Taiwan, U.S. Official Says Commitment ‘Has Never Been Stronger’

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President Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan with Alex Wong, the American deputy assistant secretary of state, on Wednesday in Taipei, Taiwan. Mr. Wong praised Taiwan’s democratic path and said “sustainable growth can never hinge on the whim of a dictator.”CreditCreditTyrone Siu/Reuters

TAIPEI, Taiwan — A State Department official on Wednesday reasserted America’s commitment to Taiwan’s defense at a dinner attended by its president, a day after China’s leader issued a stern warning against any challenges to China’s claim to the island.

“The aim of U.S. policy is to ensure that Taiwan’s people can continue along their chosen path, free from coercion,” the official, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Alex Wong, said at the banquet in Taipei, Taiwan’s capital, as President Tsai Ing-wen looked on.

Speaking to 700 people, including representatives of top American companies and senior Taiwanese officials, at an American Chamber of Commerce function, Mr. Wong said the United States wanted “to strengthen our ties with the Taiwan people and to bolster Taiwan’s ability to defend its democracy.”

“Our commitment to those goals has never been stronger,” added Mr. Wong, whose remarks came less than week after President Trump, over China’s objection, signed the Taiwan Travel Act, a measure encouraging official, high-level visits between the United States and Taiwan.

On Tuesday, President Xi Jinping of China issued a thinly veiled threat to Washington and Taipei during a speech to the National People’s Congress in Beijing. “Any actions and tricks to split China are doomed to failure,” Mr. Xi said in a stridently nationalistic speech, “and will meet with the people’s condemnation and punishment of history.”

The National People’s Congress this month removed term limits on Mr. Xi’s presidency, setting up the possibility he may hold the top posts of China’s government, military and the Communist Party for life.

In Taipei, Mr. Wong praised Taiwan’s democratic path and took a shot at Mr. Xi’s tightening grip on power. “Dynamic, broad-based and sustainable growth can never hinge on the whim of a dictator,” he said.

Hours after Mr. Xi’s speech, the Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning traveled through the Taiwan Strait, according to a statement issued by Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense. Passing through the strait is increasingly commonplace for the Liaoning, though the Taiwanese ministry noted that the carrier stayed on the Chinese side and exhibited no unusual behavior.

The People’s Republic of China, as China is formally known, claims Taiwan as its sovereign territory. But the People’s Republic has never ruled Taiwan, which is administered by the Republic of China government that lost to Mao Zedong’s Communist forces in the Chinese civil war seven decades ago.

Taiwan is functionally independent, with its own Constitution, military, democratic elections, currency and customs regime. Republic of China passports carried by Taiwanese are accepted by immigration authorities around the world.

On the surface, the Taiwan Travel Act does not appear to change much. It offers only a “sense of Congress that the United States government should encourage visits between officials from the United States and Taiwan at all levels.”

But despite a highly polarized climate in Washington, the bill received remarkable bipartisan support, passing unanimously in both the House and the Senate in the face of a vigorous campaign by the Chinese ambassador to the United States, Cui Tiankai.

Mr. Cui took the extraordinary step of sending letters to members of Congress threatening “severe consequences” for the relationship between China and the United States if the measure passed, The Washington Post reported in October.

Relations between the world’s two largest economies were shaken in the first days of the Trump era, in December 2016, when Mr. Trump, then the president-elect, accepted a congratulatory phone call from Ms. Tsai. After becoming president, though, Mr. Trump reiterated America’s “one China policy,” which acknowledges but does not recognize Beijing’s claim on Taiwan, and sought Mr. Xi’s help in pressing North Korea over its nuclear weapons program.

But Mr. Trump has nominated Mike Pompeo, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, who is widely viewed as pro-Taiwan and tough on China, to succeed Rex W. Tillerson as secretary of state. And the confirmation of Randall Schriver, who is also seen as pro-Taiwanese, as assistant secretary of defense for Asian and Pacific security affairs also suggested a closer and more open relationship with Taiwan.

Ms. Tsai said Wednesday night that she was “grateful to the Trump administration” for pushing ahead with the Taiwan Travel Act.

A test of how things might change under the legislation will come with the opening of a new diplomatic compound for the American Institute in Taiwan. The A.I.T. is the unofficial American diplomatic mission in Taiwan, staffed by State Department employees. Ms. Tsai said she would attend the compound’s opening, but it is not known who the highest-ranking American will be.

The United States broke off formal diplomatic ties with Taipei in 1979 in order to establish relations with Beijing, when both capitals claimed to be the sole ruler of China. Since then, Taiwan has effectively given up its claim to China, but Beijing still claims Taiwan.

American policy toward Taiwan is guided by the Taiwan Relations Act, passed in 1979, which states that the future of the Taiwanese people must be decided peacefully, while requiring that the United States provide the island with means to defend itself.

In recent decades, Taiwan, once autocratic, has evolved from strategic American ally used to contain China into a vital and democratic trade partner important in the American technology supply chain.

“For senior U.S. officials, coming to Taiwan better enables them to appreciate the island’s critical role in global supply chains that produce semiconductors and other high-tech products that are crucial to U.S. industry,” said William Foreman, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei, in an interview.

The Taipei chamber has more than 1,000 members from roughly 500 companies. While addressing chamber members, Mr. Wong echoed administration complaints about Beijing’s approach to business and trade.

“Unfortunately, there are actors who fail to pay due respect for the obligations they have voluntarily signed up for,” Mr. Wong said. “When economies large or small are able to flout the rules, cheat their trading partners, force intellectual property transfer, protect national champions, steal trade secrets and use market-distorting subsidies, it undermines the integrity of the entire rules-based system.”

Correction:March 22, 2018

An earlier version of this article misstated Randall Schriver’s position at the U.S. Department of Defense. He is the assistant secretary of defense for Asian and Pacific security affairs, not the deputy secretary of defense.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A5 of the New York edition with the headline: U.S. Highlights Ties With Taiwan, After Warning by China. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe